Riggies

Riggies

I never heard of a Riggie until I read a post by billyboy announcing the Riggiefest in Utica, NY. On that thread they explained to me what a Riggie is and it sounded very interesting. Billyboy posted a couple of excellent pictures of a Riggie made by the ’05, ‘06, and ’07 winner of the Riggiefest competition; Teddy’s of Rome, NY.

Since I made a one-pound box of Barilla Rigatoni I did not use these amounts. I didn’t use the chicken broth either. I also made a one-pound box of Ronzoni Rotini. First batch was half of the Rigatoni and a second pan of half of the Rotini.

If you can have the ingredients prepared ahead of time you can measure as in the recipe and will go a lot faster. I didn’t so it took me a lot longer to make everything.

ENERGY SAVING TIP:

When making pasta you can conserve gas or electricity by bringing the water to a boil in a covered pot, add the pasta and bring to a boil again and after giving it a stir cover the pot and SHUT OFF the burner. The pasta will continue to cook in the covered pot to whatever doneness that you want.

I had some leftover Italian sausage so I divided the pasta in half and made sausage Riggies with the first pound of pasta. I followed the directions and diced the peppers and onions. I used a 16 oz. can of large black olives and I cut many of them in half. For the Alfredo sauce I checked the thickness of those available at a local supermarket and chose the 16 oz. Classico Four Cheese Alfredo because it was the thickest. It was very salty.

Italian Sausage Riggie

This will produce a homemade Marinara sauce, and when combined with the store-bought Alfredo sauce, enough sauce for 1 lb. of pasta with some red sauce and Alfredo sauce left over.

Fry the sausage and reserve it to add later Cook 1 lb. Rigatoni until almost done and reserve to add later. If it’s soft, rinse it in cold water to stop if from cooking further. Chop 1 red & 1 green pepper, 1 large onion, mushrooms and garlic & 2/3 hot cherry pepper (From a jar) Sauté the red and green peppers in olive oil and butter (6:1 butter:oil) Add the onions, mushrooms and finely chopped garlic Deglaze with or add the white wine Add a 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes, parsley, oregano and ground pepper Bring to a boil and add the black olives and 2/3 hot cherry pepper Add as many black olives as you like so that their distribution in the sauce suits you. I used 1 - 16 oz can for the each pound of pasta and I cut many of them in half lengthwise for the first batch. Stir, and shut off the heat and add two large dried bay leaves to the bottom center of the mixture and cover the pan Leave unheated in covered pan for around 1 hour After an hour stir and return to a boil - stir again and shutoff heat Repeat to blend flavors, as you like or you can simmer it to get it finished faster

Before adding the Alfredo sauce remove around 2/3 of the red sauce and put it in a container. Add some Alfredo sauce to see how much it will take to achieve a nice pink color. Go back and forth adding red then white until there is enough for the pasta and the color is right. Stir in the fried Italian sausage - cut-up, as you like. Stir in the Rigatoni, bring it to a boil, stir, shut off the heat and cover till served. (You can always add more of the unused red and Alfredo sauce and mix)

If you dice the peppers and onions they will almost disappear in the sauce as shown in this reheated small pan of the first batch of sausage Riggies:

What I learned from the first batch and applied to the second batch which was a chicken Riggie:

Use large peppers Cut the red and green peppers in 1/2” x 1” or larger chunks Cut the mushrooms in large pieces Use at least 1.5 hot cherry peppers (I fried added even more later) Use extra large black olives – leave most of them whole Make your own Alfredo sauce Use more sauce because of absorption The olives fill with the sauce – YUM!

Second batch with 2 chicken breasts that I broiled in a toaster oven - the stove is actually white.

Second batch of chicken with Rotini:

I use Rotini and Rotelle more often because they grab and hold the sauces better.

The following is a 5 min. video of a Riggie being made by the 2005, 2006, and 2007 Riggie champion - Teddy’s in Rome, NY. Since they won three years in a row, they were not allowed to compete in the 2008 Riggiefest competition but were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Lookin' mighty good, man! Thanks for the pics! I just checked out the You Tube clip from the Riggiefest and was happily surprised to see that the chef in the cowboy hat from the winner, Rte. 69 Steakhouse, is my cousin Bob!!

And, the host of the Mohawk Valley Living show, Richard Enders, was my Political Science professor when I attended Utica College.

Since your post was the inspiration for my investigation into and the cooking of Riggies, I hoped that you would see how I put them together. It’s a recipe that I really enjoyed and hope that others will try. It’s worth it.

What a coincidence that your cuz and former prof were involved! Ahhh, serendipity.